Stenonychosaurus has been credited with being the most
intelligent dinosaur. Compared with most others, it had a
relatively large brain, although the excess brain volume was
probably not concerned with reasoning and other activities that
could be called "intelligence."

Stenonychosaurus had large eyes, slender flexible fingers, and
a light body. The brain was probably concerned mainly with its
highly developed senses, fine control of its limbs, and fast
reflexes, which were used in hunting small and elusive prey.

In 1982 Dale Russell and R. S_guin (Ottawa) published an
article on Stenonychosaurus. A new partial skeleton had been
discovered in 1967 which provided the basis of the first
skeletal and flesh restoration of Stenonychosaurus. The
detailed work of building the model was illustrated in their
paper.

In addition to the restoration, they indulged in an imaginative
experiment, posing a question: What might these intelligent
dinosaurs have evolved into had they not become extinct near
the end of the Cretaceous period about 64 million years ago?

Stenonychosaurus proved to be an interesting choice for the
experiment because it was one of the largest-brained and
therefore presumably one of the most intelligent of all
dinosaurs. The result of the experiment was a creature named
"dinosauroid."

One interpretation of the habits of Stenonychosaurus is that
they were lightly built active hunters of small prey_perhaps
small lizards and mammals. The long grasping hands, and the
large eyes which pointed partly forward and therefore gave
reasonably stereoscopic vision, may indicate that these were
nimble predators which were active at dusk or even at night
when many small nocturnal mammals would have been active.

Dinosauroid was constructed by extrapolating from these
attributes. It was visualized as a highly intelligent and
manipulative dinosaur. What it might have lacked in speed, it
would have made up for by its superior intellect. This would
have allowed it to avoid potential predators by outwitting them
rather than by running away.

As a predator it may have been able to catch prey both by
endurance running and perhaps by making simple weapons_ much as
primitive homo sapiens would do 64 million years later.

But let's take the evolution of the Saurian a step further.
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that Stenonychosaurus did
not become extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period and
actually had a chance to evolve into something close to the
Russell-S_guin model.

It is remarkable to note that the Saurian creature bears a
striking resemblance to descriptions given by witnesses during
a number of UFO encounters! Long, clawlike fingers, large,
elongated eyes, reptilian nostrils, three-toed, clawed feet,
lizard-like skin, small stature and absence of ears are all
features people have reported as belonging to UFO occupants.

Scientists do not know most dinosaurs became extinct; they
assume it because few relatives exist today in forms
recognizable as dinosaurs.

But what if one or two examples actually survived and managed
to evolve into highly intelligent creatures capable of building
not only simple weapons, but sophisticated craft to explore the
cosmos?

The Sauroids would have a 64 million year head start on homo
sapiens. They could have built their empires and space craft
and disappeared among the stars millions of years before humans
ever evolved to walk upon this planet!

Or if the Saurians are not from planet Earth, why not from
another where evolution might have followed a similar pattern
with similar, if not identical, creatures, including dinosaurs,
at about the same cosmic time_50 to 70 million years ago?

While it is fairly certain life does not exist on any other
planet of our solar system, we cannot rule out the existence of
life on any of the billions of other planets that have
revolved about billions of other suns in billions of other
universes for billions of years before humankind ever existed.

Let's face it: When we finally arrive on some distant planet
inhabited by sentient beings, whether more or less intelligent
than ourselves, scientists and intelligence agencies are going
to insist that specimens be returned to Earth, dead or alive,
for study. Knowing this, should we be surprised or outraged if
creatures from other worlds arrive here and begin taking
specimens of earthlings for their own scientific studies?

The requirement for the complete and successful examination of
any living organism is to reduce it to its smallest parts and
look at each cell or atom under a powerful electron microscope
or vaporize small samples in a spectrometer to determine the
elements of which the creature was comprised when it was alive.
Sample parts might suffice for some studies but whole
creatures, alive and dead, will be required for others.

These sample creatures will be acquired for study by abduction
and murder. Period. Those in government agencies whose business
it is to plan and coordinate these missions have known it all
along. It is possible that they are practicing and honing their
skills by abducting and dissecting their fellow humans from
time to time. At the same time, they may be building their own
secret parts bank for the generations of space travelers who
will need spare kidneys, livers, eyes, hearts and lungs on Mars
about three decades hence.

It's a thought, isn't it?

Another thought is that the creatures who crew UFOs might not
be from another planet, but might have been genetically built
and incubated right here on earth in one of those secret
underground laboratories, and not by aliens, but by human
tinkerers. Suppose the future astronaut is not a warm-blooded
mammal (human), but a cold-blooded intelligent reptile
(saurian) who can tolerate cosmic radiation better than humans
and who have shown to be able to survive mass extinctions with
little change or effect in their subsequent behavior and
evolution.

Suppose the saurian is not a creature who lived before us, but
is the creature, by genetic manipulation, some of us are soon
to become.

Some reptiles, remember, have an uncanny ability to regenerate
lost parts, often two or three parts. This would prove a real
benefit for explorers on a planet several million miles from
home base where spare arms and legs are not readily available.

Some reptiles can survive days or even weeks between meals
while warm-blooded mammals can hardly exist more than a few
hours!

Some reptiles appear to be unaffected by cosmic radiation that
is killing human beings by the thousands. Some reptiles can
hibernate for months and years at a time without suffering
adverse effects.

Cruel experiments on humans in Germany during the second war
helped put American and Russian Cosmonauts into space only two
decades later. Those experiments haven't stopped simply because
we have no announced plans to return to the lunar surface soon.

This country is planning a journey to colonize Mars in less
than 30 years! Imagine what it will take to get us there and
keep us there!

Dinosauroid. Have witnesses seen this creature in one of its
evolved forms? Is this what contemporary Stenonychosaurus might
have looked like had it continued to evolve to the present day?
Russell and S_guin assumed for it a large brain, and the short
neck and upright posture were arrived at as a way of balancing
the head more efficiently. In turn, the vertical posture
removed the need for a tail. The legs were modified by lowering
the ankle to the ground and the foot was lengthened. It would
have stood upright at about five feet tall. Given the proper
conditions and time, this evolution would be quite possible..

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